This "likely triggered some panic selling," Ripple's chief cryptographer David Schwartz said, further dragging down the price. The move by CoinMarketCap also affected many other cryptocurrencies, including the flagship bitcoin

XRP had previously seen an astronomical rise from its low of $0.15 in March 2017, gaining some 2000% to reach $3.315 per token on January 4.

The cryptocurrency currently has the third-largest market cap among digital tokens, behind bitcoin and Ethereum, with a total value of $75.58 billion, according to OnChainFX, a site that many traders have switched.